Kosel Rov Gets Bodyguard After Being Harassed

Who is trying to hurt Rav Shmuel Rabinovitch? The Kosel rov received a personal bodyguard several weeks ago after getting telephone threats and being harassed on a regular basis for the past few months.

In the past month, unknown assailants threw stones at the rov’s car. Luckily, he wasn’t hurt. In a separate incident, the car’s tires were slashed.

“There are radical groups of settlers and haredim which are trying to hurt the rav,” says a source involved in the affair. “They opposed his activity at Rav Shimon bar Yochai’s kever in Meron, when he tried to find a solution for the control struggles around the complex, and the renovation of Kever Yosef by Arabs, which Rav Rabinovichwas responsible for.

“Settlers have been making statements against the rabbi, like ‘If you harm the Land of Israel – you’ll be harmed.”

The Prime Minister’s Office, which the Kosel rov is subject to, is funding Rav Rabinovitch’s security expenses following the police’s evaluation of the situation.